'Green' accolades keep pouring in for V&A Waterfront

Cape Town - As affirmation of its commitment to sustainable development, the V&A Waterfront received several Green Star ratings from the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) this week, bringing to 12 the number of such ratings awarded to various buildings at one of Cape Town’s tourist hot spots.

Speaking at a plaque handover yesterday, GBCSA executive Manfred Braune congratulated the Waterfront and the professionals involved on the buildings and for making the Waterfront one of the greenest precincts on the continent.

“The V&A precinct attests to the power of long-term planning and how everyone can be brought along through gradual changes. It is a beacon of future possibilities,” he said.

The No 1 Silo (home to Allan Gray) received a 6-Star Green Star rating in 2014.

Other awards were:

* No 5 Silo (a multi-tenanted commercial building, including PwC).

* The Watershed craft market and home for African design at the Waterfront.

Explaining the Waterfront’s sustainability philosophy, chief executive David Green said: “Sustainability underpins our entire development strategy and lies at the heart of everything we do.

“As a business we are pragmatic and commercial, but it is also our responsibility to ensure that the legacy we build today does not negatively impact on the future.”

The Waterfront’s buildings were important assets, he said.

“We take pride in preserving our natural environment. With this in mind, we had produced an energy model for our new developments, which includes No 5 and No 6 Silos, that uses the district sea water cooling plant to heat and cool the building with a renewable energy source, allowing us to save energy by 65% compared to other buildings. This translates into a significant reduction in our environmental footprint.”